Related Articles

Yallourn's owners may have blamed the carbon price and the renewable energy targets for their decision to shut one of its four units, but analysts such as Professor Mike Sandiford at the Melbourne Energy Institute (MEI) said the main issue is that big utilities have not adjust to the market.

“The maximum reduction in demand in Victoria is about 600 megawatts," he said, with the switch from electric- to solar-heated water a key factor in the demand drop.

Victorian power prices averaged about $55 a megawatt hour in Victoria last month well down on the most recent peaks of $80 in early 2010, even with the $23 a tonne carbon price included, the MEI said.